There are “things,” he told Goodwin, “that in some ways I suspect I’m able to do better out of this office.” He elaborated that because of the “institutional constraints” of the presidency, “there are things I cannot say.”

He went on to essentially say he wanted to use his post-presidential bully pulpit more like an activist than a venerable elder statesman. “There are institutional obligations I have to carry out that are important for a president of the United States to carry out, but may not always align with what I think would move the ball down the field on the issues that I care most deeply about,” he said.

Prior to his political career in the Illinois Senate and the White House, Obama was a community organizer in Chicago. He was trained by Saul Alinksy’s Industrial Areas Foundation and spent years teaching workshops in the Alinsky method. He also worked with an Alinsky group called the Developing Communities Project.

Alinsky wrote “Rule for Radicals,” a manifesto teaching leftist activists how to infiltrate the government and foment revolution from within.

“Obama learned his lesson well,” said L. David Alinsky, the son of Saul Alinksy. “I am proud to see that my father’s model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday.”